Detroit Lions roll over bumbling Kansas City Chiefs for largest win in franchise history

DETROIT -- It was billed as the first home game of a new era of Detroit Lions football, one without the follies and foolishness and with a healthy quarterback, one who wouldn't always break the hearts of fans.

Nothing that happened Sunday at Ford Field suggested that isn't the case.

A 48-3 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, tying the largest margin of victory in franchise history, said plenty.

But perhaps what Jason Hanson said meant more.

The Lions' 41-year-old kicker has played an NFL-record 297 games with Detroit, the most any player has ever spent with one team.

He set the record Sunday, in the second game of his 20th season.

That's a lot of losing for one man. No one probably knows better what false hope smells like.

Hanson didn't smell it Sunday.

"We're good," Hanson said, without hesitation. "Whether we're going to be good or really good, we'll find out in the coming weeks. There's still a lot to prove. But there's an energy. You know, it's been lean for a while, and you can start to hear the buzz in the crowd before the game.

"And I've been waiting."

He's not alone. If the Lions win at Minnesota next week, they'll be 3-0 for the first time since Billy Sims was a rookie. Only eight current Lions were even alive in 1980.

"If we can do what we did this week all the time, it'll be pretty
nice," Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford said after passing for 294
yards and four touchdowns -- and surviving several hits, shoulder intact.

Yet if the Lions are ecstatic about their 2-0 start, they didn't
sound like it. Nor did they seem all that impressed with the 45-point
margin, the largest since a 59-14 win in the 1957 NFL championship game.

Maybe that's because they've been 2-0 as recently as 2007. Or perhaps it has more to do with how and who they played.

Detroit's drubbing of Kansas City came against a Chiefs team that
was, well, Lion-like, with turnovers and penalties and missed
opportunities making the score more lopsided than the game.

"We can still play better," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "We didn't
start the game very well, gave up a lot of yards rushing in the first
couple of series. ... We got stopped on some third downs. We haven't
played our best football."

Kansas City began aiding the Lions as early as the game's first
possession, when Stafford threw his lone interception of the day only to
have Chiefs safety Jon McGraw immediately fumble it back to the Lions.

"That was big," said Lions tight end Tony Scheffler, who jumped on
McGraw's fumble and later caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Stafford
to put the Lions ahead 14-3. "We get the ball first down and they don't
get the ball inside our 50, that's a big play."

Kansas City turned the ball over five more times -- in total, three
fumbles and three INTs by QB Matt Cassel -- and Detroit never did again.

The Chiefs' day was made worse by what appears to be a season-ending
knee injury suffered by star running back Jamaal Charles. Charles, the
NFL's second-leading rusher a year ago, was carted off the field late in
Kansas City's first drive, which produced its only three points.

The Chiefs still ran the ball well, producing 94 yards in the first quarter, 135 on the ground by halftime and out-gaining the Lions overall deep into the third quarter.

But Kansas City quarterback Matt Cassel struggled to keep pace, passing for only 133 yards.

Chris Houston, Amari Spievey and Eric Wright each had INTs for Detroit. Wright also forced a fumble in the third quarter.

Kyle Vanden Bosch and Ndamukong Suh both sacked Cassel.

"We knew that if we could get the run stopped, it was going to be a hard game for them to play one-dimensionally," said Schwartz, whose club allowed only 16 yards rushing in the second half. "And that's what ended up happening, but we didn't start very well."

Conversely, Stafford used seven different receivers, led by Nate Burleson's seven catches for 93 yards. Calvin Johnson caught only three passes for 29 yards, but two of those were touchdowns.

Rookie Titus Young pulled in five receptions for 89 yards, including a leaping 43-yard grab on 3rd-and-24 in the second quarter, which led to Hanson's first field goal -- a 51-yarder -- and 17-3 lead.

Running back Jahvid Best caught six of Stafford's passes for 66 yards and rushed 16 times for 57 yards and another score.

"We've got good players around him," Schwartz said of Stafford, "but you have to be able to make accurate passes. He knows where to go with the football. ... He doesn't use all of his arm all the time. He's in pretty good command.

"In control, no panic, he was able to go out and continue to press it and make plays and took what defense gave us."

Schwartz looked as if were about to yawn while praising his quarterback.

Stafford didn't come across anymore enthusiastic, not even about 48-3.

"Not really," the Lions' third-year quarterback said. "It makes you 1-0 to 2-0. That's what it is. We've got a heckuva team coming up in Minnesota, a division foe that's played really good against us in the recent past. We're in third place."